


after all is lost, you remain.

by tworedsabers



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Kissing, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Past Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Sassy Obi-Wan Kenobi, Submissive Obi-Wan Kenobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tworedsabers/pseuds/tworedsabers
Summary: They were enemies who could’ve killed each other a thousand times, and yet somehow they always ended up back here. Lines blurred, sabers clashing. It was something instinctive, something raw - a spark of electricity that was undeniable.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Asajj Ventress
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	after all is lost, you remain.

It was like this every time they fought. The hum and crackle of their sabers filling the air, his sarcastic quips punctuating the clash of blue and red. Their sequence was almost predictable - they had been doing this for so many years that the familiarity between them had become an almost comforting refuge from the chaos of the war. 

Ever since Ventress had been betrayed by her master, she’d been alone. Her sisters now dead and gone, she’d wandered from planet to planet picking up bounty hunting work, trying to find a place where she belonged. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was her only constant these days, the only person left who she knew exactly where she stood with at all times, in a life where she had no choice but to sleep with one eye open, watching her back for the people who would try to kill or double cross her given half a chance.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it. Kenobi was an excellent fighter, a worthy adversary. They were so well matched that they’d never been able to defeat the other, only flee, which is why now, years after their first encounter, they found themselves fighting on the scaffolding in a dingy storage warehouse in the underbelly of Coruscant.

“You know, my dear, it’s never too late to change your mind about which side you’re on,” Kenobi said, swiftly blocking as her two sabers aimed for his torso.

“Judging by your greying hair, you’re just worried you’ll not be able to keep up with me for much longer.” Ventress hissed.

“You’re not getting any younger yourself,” Kenobi retorted, his voice dripping with his usual smugness as their weapons clashed again, the air sizzling around them.

“Now, Kenobi, you know that’s no way to flatter a woman,”

Ventress withdrew and moved to strike again, sabers locking in an X shape against his.

“I do apologise, _darling_ , but I didn’t realise you needed my validation.”

Kenobi pushed his weapon forwards, overpowering his opponent and causing her to lose her balance. Ventress fell to the floor but recovered with an almost feline agility, springing back to her feet and launching herself immediately into her next attack. She flew through the air, a ferocious but still somehow graceful whirlwind of red light and limbs, aiming to crash down upon the Jedi’s head. He raised his weapon to block her, deflecting her back with the force.

She landed on her feet some meters away, swiftly discarding the dark cloak she had wrapped around her shoulders, knowing that her opponent wouldn’t be able to help himself from admiring the way her skintight outfit accentuated her body - even if the distraction would be only brief.

“Tell me, Kenobi, don’t you ever regret giving your life to the Order?” she cooed seductively.

He suspected that she was baiting him in some way - not an uncommon behaviour for her. For as long as he could remember they had traded insults, flirted, baited each other to establish dominance. Kenobi had often suspected that the Council wouldn’t approve of the way he conducted himself during his fights with her, and for a long time he had told himself that it was just a way of playing her at her own game. The real truth, however, was that their rivalry, their tension, was instinctive. She was an extremely intelligent and strikingly beautiful woman, quick witted and sharp tongued like himself. Their words bounced off the other like it was a game, neither of them willing to accept defeat. He had wondered once if in another life - a life where they weren’t on opposite sides, where he wasn’t a Jedi - if she was the kind of woman he would have gone for. 

“I assure you, I am proud of my service to the Republic,” he responded.

Kenobi’s endless calm was one of the most frustrating things about him. No matter what she said or how intensely they fought, he kept his cool - always with some retort, something that would push her buttons no end. She was _sick_ of him rubbing his perfection and charm in her face.

She charged at him, pulling ferocity out of her exasperation and attacking with a relentlessness that edged them closer and closer to the edge of platform.

“I heard,” she said between swings, “that you witnessed the death of the Duchess of Mandalore.”

A darkness flashed across the Jedi’s eyes and he faltered slightly. The memories of that terrible day, the day his love had her life snuffed out at the hands of the Sith Lord who had already claimed the life of his master. The same Sith Lord that he had already failed to kill once before.

Sensing his sliver of weakness, Ventress seized the opportunity, using to force to push him from the ledge. He crashed down to the ground beneath them and she followed, taking a colossal leap and landing straddling his supine body. He may have been distracted for a second, but he was still quick enough to prevent her from bringing her lightsabers near him, pushing her backwards with a flick of his hand and smashing her hard into the the door of a nearby storage container.

“Touched a nerve, have I?” she taunted, dusting herself off, seemingly only slightly bruised despite the impact.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, back on his feet, saber readied to defend against her next attack.

She circled him a moment, locking eyes with him. Eyes don’t lie, and certainly Obi-Wan could hide nothing from his.

“Give it up, Kenobi, your little romance was the worst kept secret in the galaxy.”

He remained composed, eyes hardening but Ventress could see the softness in them - the softness in _him_.

“I never had you down as the type for gossip,” he said, with just a hint of edge in his voice.

“You’ve never got to know me,”

They remained still a moment, eye contact locked and sabers poised, both trying to read each other through the force.

“If you would just give me the holocron, Ventress, we could end this now.”

Ventress raised an eyebrow.

“I’m offended you want me gone so soon,”

Electricity coursed through the air between them, a magnetism pulling them closer together until Ventress made her next series of strikes.

“Well, I do prefer the company of women who aren’t trying to kill me,” 

Ventress snorted.

“Kenobi, if I truly wanted to kill you, I could have done it a long time ago,” she snickered, pushing him backwards with the force.

“Of course,” a hint of amusement filled his voice as he picked himself up, “So why haven’t you?”

Asajj drew on the force to propel herself, leaping up onto a nearby storage container.

Kenobi rolled his eyes and followed, their sabers meeting as he landed.

“One would almost think there’s still some good in you, Ventress.”

Ventress pulled back, distancing herself some meters from him as pain and fury bubbled up inside her. Pain at her recollection of the loss that the light side had brought her - of her time on Rattatak, of losing the master who rescued her.

“I’ll never be a Jedi,” she spat, “never again.”

She closed the gap between them with three frantic swipes at the man in front of her until their sabers locked. The friction between them pulsated as their eyes made contact, as they could feel the force humming around them.

“My dear, I wasn’t asking you to be,”

The earnestness in Kenobi’s face unsettled her, and she felt a hint of dizziness at the way his force signature enveloped her. The way his body radiated _light_. This was a man who she’d fought a thousand times, who she’d hurt a thousand times, and yet despite their years of rivalry, underneath everything, he believed in her. She’d never admit it, but deep down she was sure that he, too, could have killed her or turned her in to the Republic a number of times, and yet he never had.

Attempting to ground her thoughts, she focused herself on the present. Obi-Wan was one of the rare people who age had done good things for, and with her current proximity to him she couldn’t help but notice. His hair, his lips, his strong, muscular body, hidden underneath all the excess of Jedi robes… She had always played the part of a seductress, but he.. he had flirted with her of his own accord, she could sense that now.

In one swift move she retracted her lightsabers, lunging forward to push him against the wall behind and pinning his lightsaber using the hilt of one of hers to avoid allowing him the upper hand. Her lips pressed against his and she felt a moment of confusion and conflict course through him before he relaxed, retracting his lightsaber and kissing her back - their lips starting to clash with a ferocity that matched their previous fight - a new battle to assert dominance.

This shouldn’t have felt right, but it did. As he breathed in her strong, perfumed scent, and felt the force hum and crackle around them, he could only savour the way she felt against him. Kissing her felt natural, like the culmination of every interaction they’d ever had - every flirtation, every insult, every fight. Moving his free hand to touch her waist, he’d wanted to pull her closer, but his fingertips had barely touched her pale skin before she quickly pinned his hand back against the wall using the force.

“You’d be so lucky,” she chuckled against him, bringing her own hand, now free due to requisitioning her lightsaber, to cup his beard. She traced his face seductively, briefly letting her hand roam over his upper arm.

“You’ll have to come and find me again for this holocron,” she said, voice low and suggestive, and as abruptly as she’d kissed him, suddenly the warmth of her body was gone. Capitalising on Obi-Wan’s whirling emotions, Asajj leapt from the container, climbing several others before smashing her way out of the nearest window.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe that I really have to write this, but like... dating, kissing, [redacted] etc. with your enemy who you've been trying to k word for a while and who has also been trying to k word you is a pretty bad idea in real life. Maybe don't do that?


End file.
